What If
by Kat Ducat
Summary: Harry and Luna go off into the Forest after the Battle of Hogwarts to reassure themselves of what will happen once they leave Hogwarts. Harry/Luna


_A/N: Written for Football (assigned pairings) in the Hogwarts Games and the Romance Slice of the Chinese Moon Festival Competition, but also for the 100 Different Pairings Competition with 'breath', the Favourite House Boot Camp with 'what if' and the Pairing Diversity Boot Camp with 'walks'._

_Hints of Ginny/Luna and possible Harry/Ginny/Luna, apart from Harry/Luna. Basically, lots of loony goodness._

)O(

"I don't want to go back to them. Whenever I see them staring at me, even if it's-," Harry looked at his feet, obviously abashed, "in admiration, I feel like…" he trailed off, not being able to think of a good enough word to express his embarrassment properly.

"Like you're not one of them?" Luna offered. She was walking next to him, not intentionally, but because they were going the same way. She had seen him go into the forest with his head bowed, brooding. It was no coincidence that she had decided to go into the forest as well.

Luna was going to the same way because she too, needed reassurance. A craving for stability had come over her when she was sitting in the remains of the Great Hall, and the mood there could do nothing to give her that. The people in the castle seemed unsure as to how to feel; joyous because Voldemort was finally dead or miserable because their family and friends were gone as well. All lives had had a price.

The mixed emotions of everyone in the castle unsettled Luna; a person should know if they were happy or sad. She had left them to look for something comforting in Harry. It seemed to her that maybe the two of them were confused enough to make some sense out of their confusion.

"Yeah, maybe. I just don't know-"

"Don't worry about it too much, Harry. I don't think any of us are confident about anything right now."

``Yeah, I suppose so." He looked dejected, just strolling there alongside her. As she looked at him, Luna felt a sudden pang of pity. He needed to forget.

"Hey Harry?" She stopped walking and turned to look at him, her eyes boldly trying to look into his downcast ones.

"Mm?" He turned on the spot, inclining his head curiously. Maybe there was some sort of creature she could baffle him with to take his mind off of things.

Luna stepped close to him and took his hands in hers, intertwining their fingers together. They were now no further apart than a few inches; they could hear each other's heavy breaths.

"Have you ever wondered what would happen if you did something different in your life?" she whispered, leaning in to touch his nose to hers.

Before he could respond, she continued, "What if, before we went back to the castle to get some rest, you showed some initiative and did something fun?"

He blinked a few times, feeling his insides clench with foreboding. She was so close he could see the tiny yellow specks in the startling blue of her eyes…

He didn't think it was possible for her to be any closer, but as she turned her head slightly and leaned into him so that their lips were now barely apart, she said, "What if you kissed me right now?"

Yes.

There was not much further to go, but he went there, pulling her into him and kissing her with all the stress, all the confusion, all the lust he had been trying to suppress for the last few months. He forced her willing lips to open to his, letting their tongues intermingle.

With their chests pressed so close together, he could feel both their heartbeats speed up frantically, he could feel the heat pouring from both of them.

He didn't care anymore than she did that they couldn't really be together. Hell, he wanted to be with Ginny, the love of his life, but Luna was so...refreshing.

When they broke apart, panting heavily, Luna was the first to speak. Smiling slightly, she said, "I think that helped the both of us. It was nice."

"Yeah, thanks Luna." Harry was surprised to notice that he was, actually, feeling better. His spirits had lifted enough for him to grin and look at her with a friendly fondness. "We might have to do this again sometime."

"When you're stressed out being an Auror and having your head full of Wrackspurts."

He laughed, happy that she had taken this as lightly as he had. She was Luna, after all. Always to be relied on as a person who could speak her own mind.

They started their walk back to the castle.

"You know, if you don't mind me kissing you more often, I don't think Ginny would have a problem with it," said Luna.

"What makes you think that?"

"I've kissed her a few times before and she didn't seem to mind."

"Really?" Harry was shocked enough to stop in his tracks at this revelation.

"Oh yes."

"I never thought she was into, er, stuff like that."

"Ginny likes being loved. I love her. I don't see anything that would make this weird."

"Erm...right. Well, if you don't think she'll mind…" Learning about all these activities of his ex-girl made Harry suddenly very curious to learn what else she had not told him about. But that could wait 'till later. They still had their entire lives ahead of them, after all.

The two lapsed into silence. Their walk back to the castle was uninterrupted, save for Harry bursting out, "I really like you, Luna, you know? I'd love for you to come over sometime when we all get settled down."

Luna hummed an old forgotten tune under her breath, barely seeming to notice this sudden display of hospitality. She stared up at the sky, and just as Harry thought she hadn't heard him through the Wrackspurts messing up her head, she replied.

"That's nice."

)O(

_Fin_


End file.
